A surge in violence mars early December near S.E. 72nd

Gunshots rang out in the Mt. Scott-Arleta neighborhood at a little after 2 pm on Saturday, December 10.

Not just one or two shots, either; from the numbers of police 'CSI crime scene evidence markers' over gun shell casings in the street, it was obvious the shooter unloaded a whole clip of ammo near the intersection of S.E. 72nd Avenue and S.E. Mitchell Court.

'It sounded like a string of firecrackers,' said Deborah Gilderson, who lives just down the street. 'It sounded like, maybe, seven bangs in a row. Someone yelled 'someone's shooting', and I got back in my house.'

While some media reported that the gunman stood in the parking lot of Mitchell Court Apartments, THE BEE observed that the gun shells were actually marked on the west side of S.E 72nd Avenue, and investigators were looking at evidence - some say, bullet holes in doors and windows of the building and cars in the lot - to the east of there.

Some witnesses told media the shooter got in a car that sped away, so police put out the word to stop a green Ford Suburban - which patrol officers did, on S.E. 70th Avenue and S.E. Reedway Street.

A neighbor at the intersection said he watched as five police officers, guns drawn, surrounded the vehicle and took three occupants into custody, one at a time.

'Officers made a 'high-risk stop' because it was a vehicle of interest in a recent shooting,' Portland Police Bureau (PPB) Public Information Officer Lt. Robert King later told THE BEE.

'We are now led to believe that the occupants of the vehicle were actually the intended targets,' King said.

According to latest information, no one was injured during the shooting incident; the investigation is ongoing.

Neighbors' feud ends in stabbing death

Exactly one block north of Whitman Elementary School, where an alleged gang-related stabbing took place on November 25, another knife fight occurred on December 9, at about 10 pm.

This fight, in the 7300 block of S.E. Henderson Street, had deadly consequences.

PPB East Precinct district officers headed for the area, in response to a 'disturbance call' at which the participants had armed themselves with what police called 'blunt force weapons'.

Apparently, an ongoing conflict between two men and the homeowner had come to a head.

'Once inside the home, one of the suspects attacked one of the occupants,' reported PPB Public Information Officer Lt. Robert King. 'The disturbance escalated - which resulted in others in the home arming themselves, and joining in the disturbance.'

After the altercation, the two suspects fled the home, King added. 'Within 90 minutes, an area hospital reported a man with a stab wound had come to the Emergency Room seeking treatment - but shortly after he arrived, he died.'

The deceased man's brother, 37-year-old Wilson Steven Peterson, was arrested, King said. 'He is charged with Burglary in the First Degree and Assault in the Second Degree, and he has been booked in the Multnomah County Detention Center on $300,000 bail.' As of this writing, Peterson is still in custody.

'The homeowners have not been charged with any crime, as they were in their home when the attack occurred, and were using force in defense of themselves,' King explained.